Sunday is Mother's Day.

It's not just another day. If you had a loving mother, one who cared and stood by you all your life, then you will agree that Sunday is special. Because your mother is special.We have Christmas and Easter where we give gifts to many different people. We have birthday celebrations with gatherings of friends and relatives. We have Thanksgiving where entire families congregate.Mother's Day is designated for one special someone. It's a day set aside to honor someone who has been special to you all your life.Even if it's not your natural mother, if it's a guardian, foster parent, or grandmother, it's still someone who likely cared for you or gave you unconditional love.Visit a Little League baseball practice or game and often you'll find more mothers there than fathers. Attend a school play or concert and usually mothers make up a vast part of the audience.If you get in trouble, who is or who was the first one to take your side? If you needed help, who was always willing?On Sunday, it is your turn to show your mother that you care just as much; that you appreciate all she has done and is doing.You don't have to present her with an expensive gift. Mothers are easy to please. If you don't live near her, it's guaranteed she'll be happy if you just call her and tell her you're thinking about her, and that you love her.There are patients in nursing homes who never get visitors. If one of those patients is your mother, visit her on Sunday. Even if she might not know who you are because of dementia or some other illness, you still know who she is.The modern American holiday of Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia. Her campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her beloved mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died.Anna's mission was to honor her own mother by continuing work she had started and to set aside a day to honor mothers, "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world."In 1914 Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation creating Mother's Day, the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers.While it is a national day to honor mothers, it is primarily an individual event.We understand some people have mothers who might have seemed less than loving. Still, they gave you the breath of life. And although you don't know all they may have endured themselves, one thing is assured. They still cared about you.Make your mother feel special on Sunday because she is.One quote by an unknown author probably says it best about mothers:""Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever."By RON GOWERrgower@tnonline.com